Yeah. It comes in around the 20th percentile, both on levels.fyi and compared to informal internal data.

Edit: I think the reason for this is that I went over a “four-year vesting cliff,” and you really need at least 2 promos to surmount the cliff. Perhaps I’m being sent an implicit message, up or out.

What level are you? SWE I/L3/E3, SWE II/L4/E4, SWE III/L5/E5, etc?

SWEII/L4

What do you mean by this?

When you join a company you typically get a larger than normal RSU grant that vests over 4 years. Every year you get new, typically smaller, grants. The compound effect is that your compensation will decrease in year 5, when your initial grant expires.

For example, using my company with relative numbers: Initial grant: $200 Refresher grants: $100

  Y1 = $50 = $50 total RSU compensation
  Y2 = $50 + $25 = $75
  Y3 = $50 + $25 + $25 = $100
  Y4 = $50 + $25 + $25 + $25 = $125
  Y5 = $00 + $25 + $25 + $25 + $25 = $100 < DECREASE

This can be compounded if your company's valuation has increased substantially in this period. The difference between initial and refresher can also be significantly larger than 2x

To stick at the $125/year and not see a drop in compensation, you'd want to be getting larger refresher grants which typically require promotions.

Makes sense!

Its common in all firms (not just IT) that companies expect you to either get promoted or move on to another job. If you're doing the same thing after 5 years you're probably not a star employee and some firms will actively try to get rid of you.

I honestly like working 5+ years on one project so kinda resent being told I'm not great, but that's what it is.

https://thedailywtf.com/articles/Up-or-Out-Solving-the-IT-Tu...

Yup. This.